They’re Scared

After the successful 2011 petition drive to put the DREAM Act on the ballot, mdpetitions.com has been retooled to petition the Gay Marriage Bill to referendum as well. After surviving challenges to the legitimacy of the petition signature gathering process last year, I fully suspect that gay marriage will be petitioned to the ballot this fall to allow voters to have the opportunity to make their voices be heard on this issue as well.

That of course doesn’t sit well with the Maryland Democratic Party, particularly the urban liberals who think they know better than you.

Long-time readers will recognize the name of Eric Luedtke, who use to spew venom, hate speech, and generally a lack of understanding of the world around him on an old, failed lefty blog. For reasons that are beyond me, the people of Montgomery County decided they wanted this peddler of a failed ideology and a general incivility to represent them in the General Assembly. Luedtke also has a proud track record of believing that the people of Maryland are incapable of thinking for themselves, and that ergo the decisions of the General Assembly are beyond reproach. To that end, Luedtke has signed on as the lead sponsor of HB 127, the so-called “Maryland Referendum Integrity Act.” And what would that act do?

Requiring each individual who signs a petition to provide specified information on the petition printed in the individual’s own handwriting; requiring that an affidavit executed by a petition circulator on each signature page of a petition be notarized; prohibiting an individual who is convicted of specified election law violations from being a petition circulator; extending the period of time during which judicial review of a determination concerning a petition may be sought; etc.

That’s right, Luedtke wants to force each individual signature to be hand-written and be witnessed and signed before a notary public. This would be a barrier to entry which would of course shut down citizen-based efforts such as mdpetitions.com, and would certainly create an enormous barrier to entry for other petition drives as well.

To bottom line it, Eric Luedtke wants to effectively eliminate the right of citizens to petition acts of the General Assembly to referendum. Eric Luedtke believes that citizens should have no voice in their government. In an era when both sides of the aisle are trying to make government more responsive and more accessible, Luedtke wants to continue to ensure that the citizens of Maryland are subjects instead of citizens.

Now, the fact that Leudtke supports such poppycock speaks volumes about Luedtke and his low opinion of the populace and of citizen participation. But it speaks volumes about the mind of Maryland’s urban liberals.

Maryland’s Democrats are scared to death.

Finally, the people of Maryland have a tool where they can fight back against the runaway government. A tool to fight back against mindless statism. A tool to fight back against elected officials that ignore their voices. And a tool to fight back against laws that strike a blow against common sense in reason. And we showed last year that this tool works. While the DREAM Act hasn’t been voted upon yet, the fact that it got on the ballot as quickly as it good was a shot across the bow of the modern Maryland Democratic Party unlike nothing which we have seen in a long time. Now, thanks to Delegate Neil Parrott, the people of Maryland have the resources to fight back against a government that has lost the ability to reason.

People like Eric Luedtke understand that the horse is out of the barn. They are trying as best as they can to limit the ability of the people to participate. They’ve been exposed, both for the ideas that they support and their attempts now to limit the ability of the people to express them.

We know you’re scared. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Game on….

Author

Brian Griffiths is a Co-Founder and the Editor-in-Chief of Red Maryland. Brian is also co-host of Red Maryland Radio, and host of The Air Raid with Brian Griffiths. Brian has served in a number of capacities, including two-terms as Chairman of the Maryland Young Republicans, four years on the Maryland Republican Party Executive Board, President of the Anne Arundel County Young Republican, and Assistant Secretary and Northeast Regional Vice-Chairman of the Young Republican National Federation. He is a frequent guest on WBAL and WEAA radio, and also writes a column for The Capital in Annapolis.

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